The McLennan Highlanders came up short this afternoon at The Highlands falling to the Weatherford Coyotes 85-80.
It was a close game throughout the first half. Scoring came slowly for both squads. McLennan led 9-8 with 14:41 to play in the first half. A 5-0 Weatherford run made it a 13-9 Coyote lead with 12:40 to go. The Coyotes continued to push and extend the lead to seven, 20-13, before McLennan began to rally. The Highlanders put together a 7-0 run capped by a 3-pointe from Jaylen Thompson to tie the game at 20 with 7:42 to play in the first half. The teams traded the lead for the next four minutes. McLennan took the 31-27 lead with 3:47 on the clock. Weatherford used a 9-0 run to go up 36-31 with 40 seconds to go before the break. McLennan's Jared Clawson added a pair of free throws and AJ Barnes made a shot at the buzzer to cut the Coyotes lead to one at the break, 36-35.
Weatherford opened the second half on a 7-1 run to extend the lead to seven, 43-36. A 3-pointer from Thompson started a Highlander rally. Down 45-41 with 15:10 to go, Clawson scored the Highlanders' next nine points to pull McLennan within one, 51-50. The Coyotes went back up by seven, 59-52, before Clawson got hot again, going on a 5-0 run of his own to make it 59-57. Weatherford took the first double-digit lead at 72-62 with just under five minutes remaining in the game. The Highlanders weren't done and cut the lead to two multiple times down the stretch. Weatherford held the 79-77 lead with 36.6 seconds to play. The Coyotes went 4-4 from the free throw line to push the lead to 83-77 with 19 seconds to go. Thompson drained a 3-pointer from the wing for McLennan with eight seconds to go to cut the lead to three, 83-80. Jaden Rogers added a pair of free throws in the final seconds to secure the win.
Jaylen Thompson led the way with 21 points and Jared Clawson chipped in 18. Nick Shogbonyo and CJ Hall rounded out the Highlanders in double figures with 14 and 12, respectively.
Weatherford: Wayne Wiggins 1 3-4 6; CJ Evans 3 5-6 12; Alex Daniels 0 0-0 0; Jaden Rogers 5 2-2 15; Rodeny Johnson 3 5-6 11; Jae'lyn Brooks 0 0-0 0; Keynan Russell 1 0-0 2; Joey Madimba 4 6-7 14; Ramondo Battle 8 4-5 25; Totals: 25 25-30 85.
McLennan: Nick Shogbonyo 5 3-4 14; CJ Hall 5 0-0 12; Jaylen Thompson 6 5-5 21; A.J. Barnes 1 0-0 2; Jared Clawson 5 5-8 18; Jahmar Brown 0 0-0 0; Omarion Smith 1 5-6 7; Mason Lockhart 0 2-2 2; Kaleb Pouncy 0 0-0 0; Khalif Allim 2 0-1 4; Totals: 25 20-26 80.
3-pointers: Weatherford 10 (Battle 5, Rogers 3, Evans 1, Wiggins 1), McLennan 10 (Thompson 4, Clawson 3, Hall 2, Shogbonyo 1); Total fouls: Weatherford 20, McLennan 21; Halftime score: Weatherford 36, McLennan 35; Record: McLennan 14-4 (1-1).
